For those of you who don't know, I announced this past weekend that Bishop Doherty has decided to transfer my assignment from All Saints Parish to the Cathedral Parish of Saint Mary, the Immaculate Conception in Lafayette, effective June 27th. Fr. Jeff Martin will take my place as pastor of All Saints, effective the same day. I refer to this announcement in the homily.
Homily:
Pentecost Sunday – Cycle B
With the action-adventure film The Avengers: Infinity War already making more money than any other
film worldwide (…ever!), it seems like the summer blockbuster season is already
upon us. Deadpool 2, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Ocean’s 8, Jurassic World: Fallen
Kingdom… these are some of the other blockbusters opening in the coming
weeks and, I can tell you, the list goes on and on. As we know, a “blockbuster” is a movie with a
lot of action, usually some sort of “end of the world” threat, and, of course,
plenty of gratuitous explosions. One of
the classic clichés of these types of movies is what I call the “gasoline
fueled warehouse explosion”. This is
where the character douses a warehouse with gasoline (or, some other flammable
liquid that, conveniently, is being stored in the warehouse) with the intent of
setting it ablaze and destroying the whole structure. Then, just as he or she leaves, the character
drops a lighter onto the fuel and walks away, while the flames quickly
spread. Then, the “money shot”: a wide
angle shot where the character is walking towards the camera, away from the
warehouse, when suddenly the warehouse explodes in the background, without so
much as a flinch from the character.
You’ve seen this, right? How many
of you have seen some version of this scene in a movie before?
In a way, the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, which we
celebrated last week, is kind of like that.
Since Easter, the day of his Resurrection, Jesus, in his glorified body,
walked among his disciples, teaching about how his death on the cross and
resurrection from the dead had fulfilled all that had been written about the Messiah
and prepared them for that moment when he would ascend into heaven to return to
the right hand of his Father. Then, he
ascended: leaving them the promise of something dramatic that will happen soon. This “something dramatic” was the descent of
the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In other
words, for 40 days, Jesus “set the stage” by pouring the fuel of his teaching all
over the warehouse, which was his disciples; and as he left he dropped the
lighter, which was the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit; and on
Pentecost, the warehouse exploded as the Holy Spirit descended and gave the
Apostles power to witness to Jesus to the ends of the earth.
In a way, this is exactly how it had to be. The blockbuster “money shot” isn’t when the
character spreads the fuel. If the movie
ended there, we’d all be disappointed, right?
Instead, the character has to set the blaze and get away for us to feel
satisfied by the explosion. Jesus knew
that God’s plan for the human race was bigger than his band of followers from
Galilee, that it was bigger than the Jewish people, that, in fact, it was so
big that it would encompass the entire world; thus, it had to be that, after
Jesus had accomplished man’s redemption, he would then return to the Father so
that the Holy Spirit—the power by which God’s plan for the whole world would be
accomplished—could explode forth into the human scene.
To use another example:
Many of us have seen what it’s like when 5 year olds play soccer. Even though their coaches try hard to teach
them to play different positions, as soon as that ball is loose, it’s a
free-for-all scrum surrounding it. This
is kind of like the disciples while Jesus was with them. Even though, on occasion, Jesus sent them out
to preach, they always came back around him and followed him wherever he went. After Jesus’ ascension into heaven and the
descent of the Holy Spirit, however, the disciples looked much more like a
professional team: spread out across the field, using their different talents
towards one purpose, making them much more effective. Jesus ascends so that his disciples could
spread out and be more effective.
I actually think that we can sum this up by referring to a
statement Jesus made elsewhere in the Gospel.
One day, one of the Pharisees asked him “Why don’t your disciples fast
like John’s disciples do?” Jesus replied
and said, “While the bridegroom is with them, they cannot fast, but when the
bridegroom is taken away from them, they will fast.” I don’t mean to change this into a homily
about fasting, but rather to focus on how Jesus acknowledges that there will be
different circumstances while he is here with us versus after he has been taken
up from us. Adapting this idea to
today’s feast, I might re-write it that Jesus says “While the bridegroom is
with them, they will be limited, but when the bridegroom is taken away they
will succeed freely.” Jesus ascends not
to abandon us, but so that we can be “launched”, if you will, to fulfill the
Father’s plan for all humanity.
Thus, the Ascension, particularly in connection with Pentecost
(and, by the way, it’s always in connection with Pentecost!), has something to
say to us today. Many of us are upset
that I have been reassigned and, thus, will be leaving All Saints after 6 years
of serving this parish. But what if this
is part of the Father’s plan to “launch” you all—the members of this parish—to
the next level? My job has always been
to “set the scene”, so to speak, and I hope that I have done that; but now,
perhaps, I must “ignite the flame and walk away” so that it can explode into
new life for this parish. My brothers
and sisters, this is the hopefulness with which we need to step into this
transition: that if I am going forth from this parish, it is so that you can continue
to grow “to the unity of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature
manhood, to the extent of the full stature of Christ” as Saint Paul tells us in
his letter to the Ephesians.
Thus, today we celebrate and we look forward. We
celebrate that Jesus, Our Redeemer, has gone before us to prepare a place for
us in heaven and to advocate for us eternally before the Father. We celebrate that he has sent the Holy Spirit
to us. And we look forward beyond
Pentecost: rejoicing that God has filled us more generously with his gifts—that
is, the power of the Holy Spirit to explode into the world in order to be his
witnesses to the ends of the earth for the building up of Christ’s Body “to the
extent of the full stature of Christ”.
Therefore, my brothers and sisters, let us not be afraid to
worship with our whole hearts the Lord Jesus who, having risen from the dead so
as to destroy death forever, has ascended into heaven and now stands eternally
at the Father’s right hand; and let us not be afraid to pray fervently for
God’s Holy Spirit to fill us more abundantly with his power: the power to
witness to Jesus and his saving love to those suffering in mind, body, and
spirit—the power of Jesus which has overcome the finality of death—the power
that we encounter when we receive his Body and Blood from this altar.
Friends, the summer blockbuster season is, indeed, upon
us. May our blockbuster—the feasts of
Easter, Ascension, and Pentecost—be the live action film that tops the Box
Office here in our community.
Given at All Saints Parish:
Logansport, IN – May 20th, 2018
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